Gmail hints: using Gmail for file conversion

by Richard on December 21, 2005

Here’s a handy Gmail tip from the evangelical outpost: you can use Gmail to convert files from a variety of formats into HTML. When you receive an attachment through Gmail, one of the options is to view it as HTML rather than downloading. Using this technique you can convert doc, xls, ppt, rtf, pdf and others to HTML, all without installing any extra software and regardless of which platform you’re working on. Email a file to yourself and Robert is your mother’s brother.

a common British colloquialism which I (wrongly) assumed would be known across the pond.

You’d be suprised by how much doesn’t cross over. I have a new boss who just moved to the States from London and almost every day he has to translate a new word or phrase. Some of it isn’t too useful (I don’t think I’ll be using “not to teach your grandmother to suck eggs”) but there are words like “fortnight” which are valuable because they don’t have a equivalent in Americanese.

>>“Youâ€™d be suprised by how much doesnâ€™t cross over”
Well. I’ve seen the blank looks of incomprehension on the faces of my American friends when I opened my mouth, so my surprise wouldn’t be that great, but I did assume “Bob’s your uncle” would be known. Silly me!

I once tried to make myself understood at a gas station in rural Tenessee. Now *that* was a conversation!